Langley Youth Unlimited

-
Amazing artwork being produced this fall by youth in our Creative Life studio in Langley.
http://ift.tt/1xSCcvc

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greasy French Fries

-
Image
I was 17 years old when I first began running the JR. High Sunday School at my church. I was ready to make a difference in the lives of these young people the way that my youth leaders had done for me. I recruited parent volunteers, planned ridiculous games and prepped in-depth bible studies. I quickly found out that things do not always go according to plan. My parent volunteers quit and one of the girls pulled me aside one week to tell me that everyone in the group hated me.

  I had to figure out something else. The next week I decided to ditch my lesson plan and coordinated some rides to the local McDonalds. Skipping church that day and sharing greasy French fries was apparently the trick to winning approval of this particular group. From that point on, things were better.

  Twenty-two years later, I still use this experience to train the young youth workers on my team and shape my own approach.  So many adults in the lives of youth stop engaging or showing up.  We have to be will…
Read more

The Power Of A Joke

-
Image
What’s red and bad for your teeth? A brick.

Yup… terrible right? That’s one of my go to lines with youth when they’re in a bad mood, the conversation has died or we are veering into inappropriate topics. I usually follow it up with this one; What do you call a dog with no legs? It doesn’t matter what you call him he’s not coming. That one usually gets me a groan or an eye roll but I never stop there… Why did Sarah fall off her bike? Because she had no arms. By the third or fourth anti-joke I have them right where I want them and usually the next 20 minutes are filled with equal amounts of laughter and groaning. You might as well admit it now; you’ve been chuckling while reading this.

An anti-joke’s punchline is something that is not supposed to be funny. The irony of this is typically what leads to the humor. I’ve seen these ridiculous jokes change the atmosphere of a hallway from cold and uninviting to one where everybody’s gathering around. I’ve seen them move a youth from angry si…
Read more

What Is Student Life?

-
Image
It is our dream that the youth of Langley would have the means to live healthy lives: physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. We desire to provide youth with the opportunity to live a holistic lifestyle and give them the tools to develop themselves as a person. We are always looking for ways we can take our relationships with youth to the next level. While sitting on a couch playing Mario Kart is beneficial to the overall growth of a friendship, it is easy as youth workers to get stuck. This is why when our team came across the program Ambassadors of Compassion, we knew we wanted to incorporate it into our work.

Ambassadors of Compassion (AOC) is a leadership project that helps youth discover new and exciting aspects of their life that will equip them with the skills to navigate and succeed through life’s critical challenges. It is a weekly program that is designed to help youth become self-sufficient and compassionate individuals who take responsibility fo…
Read more